I miss him so much.If he had said it's dark during the day and light at night, I'd have been going to school in the dark and going to bed at sunriseGod bless Bill

I really think that collectively we have not awoken from his spell.

We still crave him and seek him out in our manager, and in the idealised relationship with the club and our leader that we all have in our minds.

The affection and devotion that we show to Rafa is part of this. Our relationship with our boss is still shaped by the relationship we had with Shanks. We want our manager to be in his image. To inspire us and make us dream and have the same kind of swaggering wit and intelligence and messianic belief in us as a club, as fans, and as a city.

We are known as a manager's club. It might even be a weakness sometimes. But more often than not its about wanting to see the club personified in a single figure that we can show immense devotion to. And that is all because of the magic weaved by Bill Shankly. We're still living in his afterglow and he has moulded the minds of all of us, even the Liverpool fans who weren't born when he retired.

Like I said, we are still in his spell. Almost forty years have passed and we are still mesmerised by him.

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"My idea was to build Liverpool into a bastion of invincibility. Napoleon had that idea. He wanted to conquer the bloody world. I wanted Liverpool to be untouchable. My idea was to build Liverpool up and up until eventually everyone would have to submit and give in."

Would love to see some of today's overpaid pros in a negotiation with Shanks! And the Stan Matthews comment to the journo was hilarious.

No wonder Shanks liked Best. Greats can only confirm their status if they have worthy opponents, and Shanks loved skillful players. Best clearly respected/admired Shanks' mind games - as well as being effective, they always seemed to have a dry and humorous tone. Not like the bile from old red nose.

Thanks for posting - glad this thread got resurrected, only a week early too.

Suddenly I turned around and she was standin' there With silver bracelets on her wrists and flowers in her hair She walked up to me so gracefully and took my crown of thorns "Come in", She said, "I'll give you shelter from the storm."

Not read the whole thread, but has it been mentioned about the time you were due to play us and your team were staying in a hotel near Bobby Charlton's house... Shanks was nervous and couldn't settle his mind, so he came over to Charlton's house for tea and a chat. Your team coach picked him up on the way to the ground.

It has, sometimes all the bitterness around makes the game seems to be in a sorry state.anyway, thanks for those who brought back this thread. Enjoy it so much!

« Last Edit: March 17, 2008, 07:15:45 AM by Redshadow »

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Whatever an education is, it should make you a unique individual, not a conformist; it should furnish you with an original spirit to tackle big challenges; it should allow you to find values to road map through life; it should make you spiritually rich, a person who loves whatever you are doing, wherever you are.

I remember a home game the week after we had lost to Everton. Shanks was signing autographs at the Anfield players entrance and he would not sign with a pen that had blue ink, so all of us kids were running round looking for somebody who had red or green ones. He was the greatest-never to be replaced no matter what we win.

the thing about that story about only beating the team with only 3 players, have a old video where Emlynn hughes tells that story, the funny thing was that they actually beat us 2.0 and all the players were in dressing room gutted, then the door swings open in walks shanks and says aye they've some team that united.

pure classic shanks

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“Above all, I would like to be remembered as a man who was selfless, who strove and worried so that others could share the glory, and who built up a family of people who could hold their heads up high and say, 'We're Liverpool'.”

One of the great things about Shankly was that he could see through people.He had great affection for Best and it was clear that the lad was a one off, both in terms of his status in the game and off the pitch. Shankly knew that he was just an ordinary working class lad and could speak to him purely as a football man to another football man.He was never taken in by hype surrounding players but saw the person behind it all.

Apart from the fact that he worked and played with some of the best players ever to walk onto a pitch, so few things were new to him.Best's career at the top was short, but what a player he was....an absolute diamond. Not just skill in abundance but as hard as nails. Some of the tackles he took and just got on with it!I think Shanks liked that.

I doubt if he approved of Bests lifestyle or the way he let Sir Matt Busby down so many times but the thing with Best was that he never made excuses or blamed anyone else. He took responsibility for and acknowledged what he was.I'm sure Shanks would have made allowances for that.

Best also had a few great stories of his own. My favourite is the one he told about being in a hotel room and ordering room service.When it arrived the lad came in with a trolley and saw Miss World draped over the bed. The room was full of empty champagne bottles and £1,000s strewn all over the floor...his winnings from the casino.

The waiter looked around and shaking his head said...." George......where did it all go wrong"

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The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie — deliberate, contrived and dishonest — but the myth — persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.

We still crave him and seek him out in our manager, and in the idealised relationship with the club and our leader that we all have in our minds.

The affection and devotion that we show to Rafa is part of this. Our relationship with our boss is still shaped by the relationship we had with Shanks. We want our manager to be in his image. To inspire us and make us dream and have the same kind of swaggering wit and intelligence and messianic belief in us as a club, as fans, and as a city.

We are known as a manager's club. It might even be a weakness sometimes. But more often than not its about wanting to see the club personified in a single figure that we can show immense devotion to. And that is all because of the magic weaved by Bill Shankly. We're still living in his afterglow and he has moulded the minds of all of us, even the Liverpool fans who weren't born when he retired.

Like I said, we are still in his spell. Almost forty years have passed and we are still mesmerised by him.

Great post that mate.Though I doubt if some of the younger fans can actually fully believe about the Shankly philosophy today what we have thought and believed for years. Given how some act in the ground and the fact that many have to keep explaining what it is all about.

It's true to say that if Shankly had told us to invade Poland we'd be queuing up 10 deep all the way from Anfield to the Pier Head.

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The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie — deliberate, contrived and dishonest — but the myth — persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.